Combat & Action Archives - Roleplaying Tips

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Part 2: What To Do If It’s Too Easy?

I received an interesting tip request from RPT GM Kristen: What do you think about things like adding 50 HP because the baddies go down too quickly? One of my players actually said I should have done that rather than letting the encounter flop. A tricky situation. I refrain from doing this. I feel it […]

Part 1: What To Do If You Made It Too Difficult

RPT GM Kristen emailed me this worry: Hi Johnn, I used to fudge dice rolls. I’ve definitely changed my perspective on that from stuff you’ve said and other DMs that talk about this. I think what made me want to fudge things is that I’m afraid what I’ve made is too difficult for my players […]

Morale: the Missing Encounter Piece From D&D and Pathfinder

From Daniel J. Mello (danscififan) Morale — the esprit de corps, the willingness of the unit to continue to fight. This is an old wargame trait assigned to various armies. Infantry are well trained and usually have a high Morale, where partisans and rebels are not as well trained and often have a lower Morale. […]

Boring Combats: Putting Weight On The Wrong Foot

Combat without purpose becomes a grind.

One awesome solution you can use: Combat Missions.

But it’s more than that.

Toastmasters taught me to start with the audience and ask one key question:

How do I want the audience to feel during and after my speech?

So too it is with combats.

How To Add Story To Any Combat

Smashing until one side runs out of hit points gets tired fast. In Faster Combat I teach you to add story to the fight. When melee gains greater meaning, players get more engaged. While adding story, be sure to make the stakes known before the battle starts. Now players will think about the stakes and […]

Should You Run Easy Combats?

I posted something on Reddit and got a great tangential comment from user/ChristopherDornan. He advocates for occasional easy combats, which I agree with. Here’s his excellent comment: Don’t underestimate the value of an easy combat. It does two things, both are incredibly important. It drives home that PCs are heroes, and much stronger than your […]

This GM Is Burned Out On The Grid

It is amazing how RPGs can flex to accommodate our GMing preferences and style. A game like Monopoly allows little difference each play. But our beloved RPGs are marvellous in how many ways we can tweak and adapt them to match our individual and changing notions of what’s fun. For example, RPT GM Jorge Gonzalez […]

Tag Archive

Part 2: What To Do If It’s Too Easy?

Part 1: What To Do If You Made It Too Difficult

Morale: the Missing Encounter Piece From D&D and Pathfinder

Boring Combats: Putting Weight On The Wrong Foot

How To Add Story To Any Combat

Should You Run Easy Combats?

This GM Is Burned Out On The Grid

How Long Does Forever Take? A GM Pit Trap To Avoid

A Simple And Fun Way To Run Army Battles

How Can I Switch To Gridless Combat?

Think Three Steps Ahead (But It’s Not Just About Doing Things Faster)

Easy Peasy Wound Tracking In Combat